Nigerian to Hang in Malaysia for Marijuana Trafficking

 
 A Nigerian college student was sentenced to death by hanging in Malaysia after being found guilty of trafficking 26.533kg, or 58.5 pounds, of cannabis on Wednesday.
Uchechukwu Nelson Ohaechesi, 37, was arrested on October 17, 2010 in Cheras, a suburb of Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur, near the stairwell of an overhead bridge that crosses the Taman Connaught Highway.
He was charged under Section 39B(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1952, which carries a mandatory death sentence upon conviction for trafficking.

In his defense, Ohaechesi claimed that his friend Ogochukwu Hilire was carrying the bag containing the cannabis, contradicting statements he made to police in 2010.
High Court Judge Amelia Tee Hong Geok Abdullah said that Uchechukwu failed to raise reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case and that his defense amounted to “an afterthought, pure fabrication and untrue,” noting that he was careful to deny carrying the bag containing the marijuana and that if the bag did not belong to him, he would have told police at the time of his arrest.
“In light of the many contradictions and the unfathomable evidence of the accused coming to Malaysia to study English, and to play football, the court finds that the accused is not a witness of truth,” she said. “As such, the court is of the considered view that the accused’s defense is but an afterthought, a pure fabrication and untrue.”
“The court therefore sentences the accused … to be hanged by the neck until he is dead,” she said.
A total of seven prosecution witnesses were called to testify while the defense called only one witness.
Malaysia has some of the strictest anti-drug laws in the world, punishable by heavy fines and instant deportation for possessing small quantities of marijuana or any drug.  For any trafficking or distribution convictions, the death penalty is enforced nationwide.
Last year, three men were sentenced to death for selling marijuana in a hospital parking lot in 2007.  They were originally sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2010, but were re-tried when the prosecution was unhappy with the “lenient” sentence.